The most effective recruiting software helps small business owners expand their candidate pools, promote their job openings more widely, and quickly screen applicants. Here are my top picks for small business recruiting software:
- Zoho Recruit: Best for affordability
- JazzHR: Best for beginners
- Workable: Best for extensibility
- Breezy HR: Best for candidate screening
- Recruitee: Best for on-the-go teams
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Best recruiting software for small business 2024
Overall score
Use case
Starting price*
Learn more
Zoho Recruit
3.89
Best for affordability
$25 per recruiter per month, billed annually
Breezy HR
3.76
Best for candidate screening
$157 per month billed annually
* Starting prices are based on paid tiers.
Workable: Best for extensibility
Overall score
3.92/5.00
User scores
3.88/5.00
Pricing
3.38/5.00
Support
4.20/5.00
Platform interface
4.05/5.00
Applicant tracking features
4.06/5.00
Pros
- Lots of recruiting and HR features included on all plans.
- Wide selection of third-party integrations.
- Well-designed interface is visually appealing and easy to navigate.
- Can customer support via phone, email, or live chat.
Cons
- More expensive than some competitors.
- No free plan available.
Why I chose Workable
I chose Workable because it offers more than 280 integrations with third-party software, including payroll, background checks, performance management, and more. This extensibility means that Workable is highly likely to connect to any other business software that you currently have, or that you might start using in the future, so it can scale with your business. Workable also scored very highly in terms of its application features and customer support.
Workable is a recruiting platform that also includes some basic HR tools, which sets it apart from other recruiting software like Ziprecruiter. All plans come with an org chart, employee profiles, employee directory, and company file management. You can also choose to add on time off management, employee onboarding, e-signature capabilities, and payroll integrations for an additional fee. Depending on your HR demands, Workable alone might suffice for your needs, so you can centralize everything in one platform instead of paying for two.
In addition to connecting to over 200 job boards, Workable helps you find even more passive candidates through AI candidate sourcing and a robust people search system. You can also use Workable to save potential candidate profiles for future hiring needs. Current employees can also refer potential candidates through the referral portal.
You can set up Workable auto reject candidates who give certain answers to application knockout questions — for instance, if they don’t have enough experience or are in the wrong geographic area. Sending out interview invites with video call links is easy thanks to the two-way Google Calendar sync.
Anonymized resumes
This unique feature is available on all Workable plans and is designed to reduce bias during the hiring process. When this is enabled, you can’t see contact details when a candidate is in the sourced or applied stages, and can only view the relevant info on the resume. Once the candidate is moved to the phone screen stage you can contact them. Keep in mind that this feature doesn’t block photos, however, only text (attaching photos to resumes isn’t standard practice in the US, but it’s much more common in other countries — something to keep in mind if you start hiring abroad).
AI-powered screening assistant
If you’re overwhelmed by applications, you can use this optional feature to quickly identify good candidates. This AI recruiting tool will generate short summaries of candidate profiles alongside a checklist that shows how well a candidate matches your job’s requirements. Once it’s finished, it will rank them according to how well they meet the requirements. You can always edit the AI’s conclusions by selecting the “edit this profile summary” option.
While Workable offers an excellent combination of recruiting and HR features, it’s also the most expensive software on this list and doesn’t offer a free plan. For that reason, I recommend it for growing small businesses that are looking to invest in slightly more advanced recruiting software and who will really make use of Workable’s third-party extensions.
- Premier: $628 per month billed annually, including HR features (no monthly plan available).
- Starter: $189 per month billed monthly, including HR features (no annual plan available).
- Standard: $313 per month billed annually or $378 per month billed monthly, including HR features.
Zoho Recruit: Best for affordability
Overall score
3.89/5.00
User scores
4.06/5.00
Pricing
4.25/5.00
Support
3.63/5.00
Platform interface
3.63/5.00
Applicant tracking features
3.95/5.00
Pros
- Lots of customization options.
- Great balance of price and features.
- Forever free plan for one active job.
- Create and save your own job posting and pipeline templates.
- Paid plans get automatic search access to eight different job databases.
Cons
- No native e-sign capabilities (requires an integration with Zoho Sign).
- Hiring pipeline interface is not intuitive.
- Not enough ways to collaborate with stakeholders during the screening stage.
Why I chose Zoho Recruit
I selected Zoho Recruit as the best small business recruiting software for affordability because it offered the most bang for the buck out of all the software I tested, ranking a 4.25/5 for pricing. Not only does Zoho Recruit offer a forever free plan for one active job, it also charges a very reasonable price per user for the paid plans, making it a cost effective solution if you only need one or two people to access the software.
Zoho Recruit is the applicant tracking system (ATS) offered by Zoho Corporation. Like all Zoho products, it integrates seamlessly with the rest of the Zoho business software stack. Certain tiers of paid plans also get access to additional integrations with third party software, such as Google and Outlook. That being said, non-Zoho integrations are much more limited compared to competitors like Workable — the software stack is designed to encourage users to sign up for as many Zoho products as possible.
To create a job requisition in Zoho Recruit, fill out the simple form and review your posting, then Zoho will syndicate it to multiple job boards. You can also use one of the pre-loaded job templates, or create and save your own for future use. If you already have candidates in mind, you can upload their resumes directly or add their information manually. Zoho Recruit also supports employee referrals.
Once you’re ready to move candidates forward in the hiring pipeline, you can schedule video and phone interviews through Zoho Recruit, and add multiple interviewers to the invitation. After you’ve made your final selections, you can use the native offer letter templates to generate an offer — though you’ll need third-party software to get digital signatures, since Zoho Recruit doesn’t offer e-signature capabilities.
Job board syndication
All of Zoho Recruit’s plans, including the free one, allow you to post one job to multiple websites with the simple click of a button. Zoho Recruit connects with more than 25 job boards around the world — including Google Jobs and LinkedIn — as well as more paid and sponsored job boards. This feature matters for small businesses because it helps you get your job postings in front of as many people as possible with a minimum of time and effort.
Source Boosters
Instead of waiting for candidates to find you, you can go out and find the best candidates with Zoho Recruit’s Source Boosters. Source Boosters connect to eight different job board databases such as Monster and CareerBuilder so recruiters can proactively search for candidates that match open listings. All paid plans get access to this Source Boosters feature, which is worth noting, since many competitors restrict similar features to more expensive tiers.
While Zoho’s pricing is quite affordable, and one of the main reasons it ranks so highly, it does charge per seat, so it may not be the most cost effective option if you need many users to access the recruiting software. Zoho also charges extra for certain features that are included in other software, such as extra storage, and those fees can add up over time.
- Forever free: $0 for one active job posting.
- Standard: $25 per user per month billed annually or $30 per user per month billed monthly.
- Professional: $50 per user per month billed annually or $60 per user per month billed monthly.
- Enterprise: $75 per user per month billed annually or $90 per user per month billed monthly.
- Client portal add-on: $6 per license per month.
- Video interview add-on: $12 per license per month.
Breezy HR: Best for candidate screening
Overall Reviewer Score
3.76/5.00
User scores
4.17/5.00
Pricing
4.06/5.00
Support
2.25/5.00
Platform interface
3.55/5.00
Applicant tracking features
4.34/5.00
Pros
- Free forever for one active job listing.
- Unlimited open jobs on all paid plans.
- Connects to 50+ free jobs boards for sourcing candidates.
- Applicant screening tools available on all paid plans.
Cons
- No phone support available, even for the more expensive plans.
- Fewer integrations with third-party software than some competitors.
Why I chose Breezy HR
I chose Breezy HR because it offers great tools for candidate sourcing and screening at an affordable price. Not only does it offer a forever free plan for one active job, but it also provides unlimited job postings and candidates on its entry level paid plan (as opposed to most competitors, which limit you to 2-5 active jobs on the cheapest plans). The drag-and-drop pipelines make it super easy to either move candidates forward or disqualify them, and the hiring conversations module keeps all communication centralized in Breezy HR so stakeholders stay on the same page.
Breezy HR provides a collection of tools for sourcing, hiring, and onboarding candidates. (It also recently launched a new performance management tool, which is separate from the hiring software and charges its own fee.) Alongside Zoho Recruit, Breezy HR is one of the few recruiting software that offers a forever free plan that costs $0 for one active job.
Breezy HR has a very thorough job creation tool that walks you through seven different steps to create and share a job posting. The software comes preloaded with a library of templates and also allows you to create and save your own templates for both jobs and hiring pipelines. There is also an internal job creation feature that is available on paid plans only.
I was able to add candidates manually and by email as well as through bulk import, employee referrals, and the LinkedIn integration. I also appreciate that I could move a candidate to a different stage from the job’s individual page or the candidate profile page. Breezy HR also makes it possible to set up automations for both disqualifications and stage progressions, speeding up the screening process and reducing time to hire.
Drag-and-drop hiring pipeline
I found Breezy HR’s interface to be one of the most pleasant to use. The design is based on a Kanban board, where individual candidate profiles are the cards and the screening stages are the columns. Simply drag and drop each candidate to the next stage to move them through the hiring process, or remove them from the screening process if they’ve been disqualified.
Customized candidate pools
If you’ve got a candidate profile that isn’t a great fit for your openings now, but that you want to keep in mind for the future, then you can save them to something called a candidate pool. Candidate pools allow you to save applicants that aren’t associated with a specific job opening, so you save them for candidate relationship management. Breezy HR allows you to create unlimited candidate pools on all paid plans, ensuring that you always have potential hires to reach out to, which is especially important in high turnover industries.
Breezy’s free plan and cheaper paid subscription plans are great for supporting the beginning portions of the hiring process, but offer little in the way of offer management and onboarding support once you find the best candidate. For instance, you’ll need to upgrade to at least the Business plan if you want to set up approval workflows for sending offer letters. If you’re interested in Breezy, keep in mind that you’ll probably need to integrate with an HRIS to help with the document management and approval workflows associated with the ending stages of recruitment.
- Bootstrap: $0 for one active job posting.
- Startup: $157 per month billed annually, or $189 per month billed monthly.
- Growth: $273 per month billed annually, or $329 per month billed monthly.
- Business: $439 per month billed annually, or $529 per month billed monthly.
- Pro plan: Contact Breezy HR for pricing information.
JazzHR: Best for beginners
Overall score
3.52/5.00
User scores
4.03/5.00
Pricing
3.19/5.00
Support
3.58/5.00
Platform interface
3.99/5.00
Applicant tracking features
3.15/5.00
Pros
- Logical layout is very easy to navigate, even for beginners.
- Fast calendar syncing for interview scheduling.
- Excellent reporting module.
- Includes offer letter templates and e-signature capabilities.
Cons
- Only the Pro plan gets phone support.
- Doesn’t have a mobile app for on-the-go recruiting.
- Difficult to customize the career page without coding knowledge.
Why I chose JazzHR
I chose JazzHR because it has a very simple and logical layout that is easy to navigate, even if you’ve never used an ATS before. Unlike some other platforms that overwhelm you with customizations or bury essential functions in random menus, JazzHR’s step-by-step interface makes it fast and easy to create and post a job, add candidates, and move them through the interview pipeline. The plug-and-plug modules require minimal training, saving SMBs owners time and hassle so they can focus on actually hiring candidates instead of doing admin work.
JazzHR offers step-by-step instructions for creating a job posting, a feature that makes it an excellent choice for beginners. You can browse the library of native job templates but can’t save your own custom templates (though you can clone an existing job). You can upload a resume, input the resume text, or manually add a candidate. JazzHR also integrates with Monster, LinkedIn, and CareerBuilder to help you source more candidates.
Candidates can be moved through the pipeline from their individual profile pages. After you’ve got your calendars synced, you can add invitees to interviews and generate video call links for Google, Zoom, and other platforms. When you’re ready to make an offer, the Pro and Plus plans get access to offer letter templates and native e-signature capabilities.
Hiring pipeline automations
With Workflow Helpers, JazzHR’s automation tools, you can automate eight different tasks across the hiring pipeline — not just sending emails or text messages, but also adding interview guides and exporting candidates. Automations like this remove to-dos from SMB owners’ plates so they can focus on the more important tasks, such as actually conducting interviews.
Reporting module
JazzHR had one of the best reporting modules I tested, including both time-to-hire and time-to-fill reports. You can easily filter by job, country, city, hiring manager, or department to see exactly the data you need.
I was also able to schedule reports, which is a rare feature among ATS. If you’re new to recruiting software and frequently forget to run reports, JazzHR’s scheduling feature will take care of it for you. These reports quantify your hiring statistics, helping you to quickly identify what recruiting processes are working and which ones can be improved.
Most SMBs will be interested in JazzHR’s Hero plan, which allows you to post three active jobs at a time for just $75 per month paid annually (additional jobs cost $9 per month). For even more features like e-signatures and a Zoom integration, you’ll need to upgrade to the more expensive paid plans. So, if budget is your biggest concern, you might have better luck with platforms that offer forever free plans like Zoho Recruit and Breezy HR.
- Hero: $75 per month paid annually, or $99 per month paid monthly.
- Plus: $269 per month paid annually, or $325 per month paid monthly.
- Pro: $420 per month paid annually, or $499 per month paid monthly.
Recruitee: Best for on-the-go teams
Overall score
3.51/5.00
User scores
3.84/5.00
Pricing
2.81/5.00
Support
3.05/5.00
Platform interface
4.31/5
Applicant tracking features
3.44/5
Pros
- Well-designed interface with an easy-to-navigate layout.
- Mobile apps available for both iOS and Android devices.
- Internal jobs postings can be consolidated on an internal page.
- Highly customizable career page.
Cons
- No offer letter templates or e-signature capabilities.
- More expensive than some competitors.
- Doesn’t disclose customer service hours.
Why I chose Recruitee
I chose Recruitee because of its well-designed mobile apps, which are a must for SMB owners who are juggling recruiting alongside many other tasks. The mobile app will also benefit small businesses that attend many local job fairs or otherwise do a lot of their recruiting in person and on site. I also liked that Recruitee provides a highly customizable career page as well as a dedicated page for internal jobs only.
Recruitee is designed for on-the-go growing teams. The straightforward design makes both the desktop and the mobile app easy to navigate, and creating a job posting is very quick. You can’t save a job template, though you can duplicate existing jobs.
You can upload a resume or input a candidate manually, import multiple candidates with a CSV file, or use LinkedIn integration to add candidates. Recruitee also offers a Chrome extension for Xing, Dribbble, StackExchange, and GitHub to help you source even more candidates. The system is pretty accurate at parsing resume data (though not perfect), and you can add multiple recruitment team stakeholders to a single candidate’s profile.
When you’re ready to move a candidate forward, you can do that from the job’s individual page or the candidate profile page. Recruitee also makes it possible to set up automations for both disqualifications and stage progressions to move the process along. Unfortunately, it doesn’t provide offer letter templates or e-signature capabilities; you’ll need an integration with HelloSign, DocuSign, and Signrequest for the latter.
Mobile apps
The Recruitee mobile is available to download from the App Store (for iOS devices) and the Google Play Store (for Android devices). The Jobs tab displays published jobs and how many candidates have applied, and you can move candidates around in the pipeline once you select a specific job. Use the app to email candidates or leave an evaluation after interviewing them. You can also notify colleagues in the Notes tab, which basically functions as a comment feature.
Customizable career page
Recruitee offers one of the most customizable career pages that I tested, with the added bonus of not requiring coding knowledge in order to make changes. The content block-based page creator is reminiscent of Squarespace and makes it easy to create custom pages. You can even upload your own fonts to ensure that the career page matches your main website as closely as possible, creating a cohesive online experience for candidates and maintaining your company brand.
The Recruitee tablet and mobile apps.
Some of the section types available in the Recruitee career page builder.
The Recruitee hiring pipeline.
Recruitee’s per month pricing is slightly higher than average, though it’s not nearly as expensive as Workable. You’ll be limited to five job slots on the Start plan, but all plans support unlimited users which is a plus. For unlimited job slots, you’ll need to upgrade to at least the Grow plan.
- Start: $199 per month billed annually, or $249 per month billed monthly.
- Grow: $249 per month billed annually, or $311 per month billed monthly.
- Optimize: Contact the sales team for a quote.
Small business recruiting software FAQs
